Edith Kerrison Nursery School

Edith Kerrison Nursery School Sophia Road, Custom House, London, E16 3PB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The majority of children make good progress in their personal, social and emotional development, and in gaining early reading and mathematical skills.  The school makes good provision for disabled children, those who have special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language.  Teaching and learning are good and are monitored rigorously by school leaders. Some teaching of small groups, especially for children with speech and language difficulties, is outstanding.  Children behave well, are polite, and show good attitudes to learning, especially when working with an adult. The school takes action to ensure families send their children to nursery often, and keeps children safe.  Senior leaders, together with the governing body, are ambitious for children to achieve as well as they can. During a period of rapid change, the quality of teaching, children’s progress in mathematics and the sounds

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

letters make have improved.  The strong coordination of activities for parents, carers and their children between the children’s centre and the school makes an important contribution to the school’s success. The needs of families and children are identified early and appropriate support is arranged ready for when children start school.  Parents and carers have full confidence in the school and appreciate the skills their children acquire that prepare them well for entry to Reception Year.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Children’s progress in early writing skills is not fast enough because mark making is not incorporated into a wide range of activities.  A few staff do not model good quality spoken or written English to the children.  Not all staff make good use of daily meetings to discuss children’s progress to plan precisely the next steps in their learning.  The outside play area does not offer sufficiently rich and challenging activities to help children to explore their own ideas thoroughly.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed six hours of teaching and learning.  The headteacher, staff, local authority officers and representatives of the governing body held discussions with inspectors.  A range of documents including the school’s improvement plan, self-evaluation form, safeguarding arrangements and records to check the quality of teaching were scrutinised.  Few parents and carers completed Parent View. Their views were sought in meetings during the inspection and scrutiny of the school’s own questionnaires to parents and carers.

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Inspection team

Kath Beck, Lead inspector Additional inspector Howard Dodd Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized nursery school that children attend either in the morning or the afternoon.  The area in which the nursery is situated is undergoing a regeneration programme.  Many more children come from diverse minority ethnic backgrounds than in most schools of this size.  Many children are at an early stage of learning to speak English.  One fifth of children are supported at school action and at school action plus. This is in line with the national average.  Changes since the previous inspection include the appointment of a new Chair of the Governing Body, a new headteacher, deputy headteacher and some members of staff. Provision for two-year-olds registered by Ofsted has also been established. The school has undergone major building work.  The headteacher manages the Edith Kerrison Children’s Centre and the provision for two-year- olds on the same site. They were inspected earlier in 2011 and 2012 respectively and their

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Information about this school

reports are on the Ofsted website.  The school has recently been awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching to outstanding by making sure that all staff:  model consistently good quality spoken and written English  integrate early writing skills into a wide range of activities  refine their daily evaluations of children’s progress to plan precisely the next steps in each child’s learning.  Improve the outside play area so that it:  offers rich, challenging learning activities across all areas of learning  allows children opportunities to explore their own ideas in depth.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children make good progress and are prepared well for their transfer to the Reception Year. Data show that children’s attainment over the past two years has improved well across all the areas of learning, except in writing which has lagged a little behind.  Children achieve well in their personal, social and emotional development. They are taught, and adhere to, the ‘golden rules’. These include listening well, caring for each other and to walk around the nursery. Children know to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘no thank you’ and to play happily together.  Early reading skills are integrated successfully into children’s play and story times and some more able children leave the nursery able to read simple words. Adults help children to recognise the sounds letters make, for example when they are using a computer keyboard. Adults point to the words when reading stories so that children understand that text has

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The achievement of pupils is good

meaning.  Visits to the library, attractive reading areas and a good range of books, including books in dual languages, encourage children to want to curl up and ‘read’. They choose books to take home to share with their families to further ignite their interest.  Children new to speaking English or with speech difficulties make rapid gains in their confidence to talk. They work in small groups with skilled staff trained in signing, and in a national programme to promote children’s spoken language abilities. This is not consistently the case across the nursery as new staff have not yet been trained to use these methods, and on occasion do not model good quality spoken English.  Progress in writing is slower as children have fewer opportunities to develop their early mark making skills in the activities planned for them. Staff demonstrate the importance of writing things down by recording children’s comments and displaying them, but sometimes

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The achievement of pupils is good

they do not make sure that the spelling is correct.  In 2011, data indicated that children’s counting skills were not good enough. These have improved rapidly through their incorporation into many activities including playing games, such as counting how many bean bags can be thrown into a barrel, and short sessions that focus on counting numbers in sequence.  Children are encouraged to be active and to develop their coordination and movement by riding on wheeled toys and climbing, balancing and sliding on attractive playground equipment. Specialist coaches for gymnastics and football help children to refine their skills in balancing, jumping, rolling and controlling a ball. Consequently, their physical development is strong.  Music, singing, acting out stories with puppets, painting and other art activities give children many opportunities to develop their expressive arts and design skills. Good quality

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The achievement of pupils is good

computer programs add to their enthusiasm for learning to read, count and draw.  Building work has hindered the development of the outside play area to extend all the areas of children’s learning, especially of the natural world. Detailed plans have been drawn up and are at an early stage of implementation.  Children with special educational needs who are in need of a lot of extra help are supported extremely well. Adults have been well trained to support them. The school draws successfully on the services provided by the children’s centre and other partnerships to make sure that these children make good progress from their exceptionally low starting points. Children from different ethnic backgrounds achieve equally as well.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good over time as shown by the increase in children’s achievements in the last two years and leaders’ monitoring records. Good relationships between staff and children make sure there is a happy atmosphere in which children are keen to learn. Staff provide a safe, colourful environment where they value each child as an individual, and guide their development through warm, positive interactions.  Staff use the knowledge learned in training to enhance children’s skills in learning the sounds letters make and how to recognise numbers and count in sequence. They use resources such as puppets to bring stories alive and develop children’s early reading skills well. Planning does not include a sufficiently wide range of activities in which children are encouraged to make marks and to write.  Planned activities, such as exploring the ‘magic of magnetism’ with an adult capture children’s curiosity, sustain their interest. On these occasions, and when staff join in

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The quality of teaching is good

children’s role play, they support children’s learning and development well. Outdoor activities are not consistently planned so carefully and some activities are not as challenging or engaging as they should be.  Staff promote children’s spiritual, moral and social development well, encouraging the children to observe the beauty of flowers before painting them. Children work socially in small groups waiting to take their turn. Snack time is also a social occasion where children serve each other and learn to be polite and use good manners.  Most staff are well qualified and know well how to engage children in conversation. They use questioning effectively to deepen their thinking. This is not always consistent, in part because some staff are new, and others are studying to achieve appropriate qualifications.  High quality sessions for children with speech difficulties, based on advice from a speech

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The quality of teaching is good

therapist, include practical activities that motivate them to want to talk. Children with very specific needs receive one-to-one support and learn to play alongside their classmates. These children make rapid progress in their personal development.  Daily reviews of activities give staff insight into what children can do and what they enjoy doing most. The information gained from these meetings is not used consistently. Most staff use the information to plan the next steps in children’s learning. Others consider only the activities they will provide, not what they want the children to gain from them.  Classrooms are attractive and well resourced. Displays value children’s creativity and reflect the importance of learning to read, write and count. They also celebrate children’s different backgrounds and help them to see numbers and words in their own language.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Children show good attitudes to learning. When working with adults they sustain their interest for long periods of time, because they are keen to learn. Some activities, especially those planned for them to do on their own outside, do not always have sufficient challenge to hold their attention. Children lose interest and move rapidly from activity to activity without a clear sense of purpose.  Children behave well. The policies and procedures for promoting high standards of behaviour are implemented consistently. Children are polite to one another, and respond quickly to requests from staff to take turns, ‘use their walking feet’ and to keep the nursery tidy and safe.  Visits to the library, swimming and to places of interest give children and parents and carers a clear understanding of how to stay safe out in the community. Children behave sensibly on these occasions because staff have high expectations of them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Staff, members of the governing body, and parents and carers consider that the children behave very well. No child has been excluded on the grounds of bullying or racist incidents in recent years. The school strongly promotes an understanding of cultural differences and celebrates the diverse nature of its community.  Staff are aware, through their work with the children’s centre and provision for two-year- olds, of children due to start at the nursery who have behavioural difficulties. They work closely with parents, carers and a range of professionals to make sure that the children receive high quality support.  Leaders have successfully encouraged the need for regular attendance as it is better than at the time of the previous inspection. That said, some families do not bring their children to the nursery often enough. Children with 100% attendance are awarded a certificate. Those whose families wish to return to their home country for extended holidays are removed

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The leadership and management are good

 Key leaders and those responsible for governance have taken determined action to ensure the sustainability of the school. Their overall leadership and management of the children’s centre, the provision for two-year-olds and the school are central to the drive to enable children to get the best start to their education. Staff in all provisions work well together to benefit the children in the nursery, tracking their progress from birth and making arrangements to support their needs.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher monitor the quality of teaching and the implementation of new initiatives carefully. They use the findings from their observations to set targets for improvement with regard to staff performance in the classroom.  There is an appropriate training programme for all staff designed to meet their individual and whole-school needs. The impact of training is checked for the benefits it brings to the

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The leadership and management are good

children. Training for new staff in signing and the effective promotion of children’s spoken language skills has yet to take place.  The coordinator for special educational needs, while new to the role, is working closely with senior leaders and colleagues. This is to sustain strong partnerships with different professionals and enhance provision for children with a wider range of disabilities and special educational needs in school.  Leaders have a good capacity to improve because they are forward thinking and committed to taking the school to the next level. There have been marked improvements in the sharing of information with the governing body, systems to track the effectiveness of the school’s work and a rise in children’s achievements. Surplus funds have been spent well to make better provision for the children and their families.  The regeneration of the area means the number of children in the school may change up or

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The leadership and management are good

down rapidly. An innovative approach means that some staff have flexible working arrangements to deal with this eventuality, and to provide cover for staff attending courses.  The school improvement plan sets out sharply focused arrangements to raise children’s attainments in mark making, writing and their spoken language, as well as enhancing progress across other areas of learning through outside play. These arrangements stem from rigorous self-evaluation and good analysis of data.  The programme of work for the children is relevant to their age and interests and promotes overall good progress. It is enhanced by visits out and visitors to the school, such as a puppet theatre, and events to celebrate the Olympics and the opening of the new building.  The partnership with parents and carers is strong. The school provides courses for them to learn to speak English and to support their children at home. Parents and carers often

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The leadership and management are good

accompany their children on trips so they can learn along with them.  The school has recently won an award for its highly inclusive ethos. Equality, diversity and an understanding of children’s particular needs, different faiths, cultures and languages are promoted strongly, and discrimination tackled rigorously.  The local authority provides light touch support for the nursery. It views some aspects of its work, such as that for children with speech difficulties, as high quality, and uses it as an exemplar to others.  The governance of the school:  is good because the governing body shares the ambitions of senior leaders to make sure that the school plays an important role in the community  has brought about important changes to the school’s provision and has all the information required to offer good levels of challenge and support  has made the decision to enable parent governors to serve for three years to provide

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The leadership and management are good

continuity in monitoring, evaluation and decision making  is managing the financial resources efficiently so that money is spent in the best interests of the children  implements clear performance management systems with links between performance and pay progression  makes sure that statutory requirements with regard to safeguarding are met.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 102700 Local authority Newham Inspection number 400564

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Nursery School category Community Age range of pupils 3−4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 180 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair George Stone Headteacher Ann Collier Date of previous school inspection 18−19 November 2009 Telephone number 020 7476 1735 Fax number 020 7511 4971 Email address info@edithkerrison.newham.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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